Hotel California
by eddiesaspirator
Summary: 14-year-old Katie Sinclair chose the wrong time to stay in Perdido Beach on vacation. She struggles with being stranded in a foreign place 1000 miles from home with no one she knows.. and all the adults have disappeared. But that's the least of her troubles. Conflict and violence are omnipresent in the FAYZ, but has a mysterious, violent, handsome boy lured her to the wrong side?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Catherine Sinclair was hungry. Her parents and siblings had left the hotel to head to the beach early that morning, 'to get a good spot' her father had said. But seven in the morning was too early for her to get up whilst she was on vacation, regardless of how beautiful the beach was. She'd been lying in her bed for the past 3 hours, since she'd woken up at 11 am. A much more appropriate time to get up. She'd tried to get the TV working, but she'd got nothing but static. So, she'd raided the minibar for some peanuts and a vodka coke (she was on vacation after all) and opened the Stephen King she'd got halfway through on the plane. 100 pages and 3 drinks later, she'd decided that bar snacks weren't going to cut it for her hunger and tried to call room service. It wouldn't ring. Not even a dial tone. So, she'd stepped in the shower, slapped on enough makeup so the attractive receptionist wouldn't think she always looked as gross as she did after 16 hours of travelling and pulled on some shorts and a cropped t-shirt. She grabbed her phone, not that it would do her any good at the moment as she had 0 bars.

"Typical America," she muttered to herself, as she slipped the phone into her pocket and pulled open the hotel room door. As soon as she stepped out of the lift into the lobby, she knew something was wrong. There was no usual hustle and bustle, no ringing phones. There was nothing, nobody, not one solitary person walking through the place. She tentatively crossed the empty room towards the vacant front desk and looked around. Where was everyone?

Night had fallen, and Katie was feeling more and more terrified. She'd emptied the minibar of alcohol and would have felt drunk enough to lie down and sleep had it not been for the absence for her family, not to mention all other people. That was when she heard the sound of a door opening. She had retreated to the safety of her hotel room when she had found no sign of anyone else and, even more disturbingly, a seemingly impenetrable barrier by the tennis courts, feeling that this was the place she was most protected. Her heart left at the sound of the door opening and closing. Could this be her family returning for her at last? She held onto the hopeful thought as she crept around the corner of the bedroom into the small living room where the door stood wide open in the wake of 3 kids; two boys and a girl. She stood, frozen, looking at them, and they stared back.

"Hi," said the girl eventually, in a timid voice.

"Hi," said Katie warily, looking around surreptitiously for something she would be able to use as a weapon.

"Sorry for coming into your room," said the girl, stepping forward past the boys toward her, "we didn't know anyone was in here."

"Right," said Katie, her heart beating fast, "sorry, but how the hell did you get in here? I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to just walk into my room. Who are you?"

She looked them up and down. The sandy-haired boy was dressed casually, the other darker-haired boy in a strange combination of clothes it looked like he's pulled from a kids' fancy dress box and the girl in a pressed blouse and skirt. They couldn't be anything to do with the hotel or they'd be in uniform.

"We were looking for my little brother," explained the blonde girl in a painfully patient tone, "he was with my parents when all this happened and I'm worried he might be alone somewhere."

It took Katie a little while to register what she'd said, as she was still scanning the surfaces around her for something solid she could potentially cause injury with.

"When all what happened?" she said slowly, edging toward an empty wine bottle her and her mother had drained the night before.

"Ah shit," said the darker-haired boy, "we gotta break it to this chick, well I'm not gonna be the one to do it."

The girl and light-haired boy exchanged a look before the girl turned back to Katie.

"I'm Astrid," she said, indicating herself, "this is Sam and Quinn." She gestured to the light and dark-haired boys in turn. She took a deep breath and looked Katie in the eyes.

"This morning, all the adults disappeared. Everyone over 14. I'm guessing you're not 15 yet?" she didn't pause for Katie to respond, "we don't know why or how, but I'm looking for my brother, he's only 4 and he's severely autistic, he wouldn't have a chance at surviving on his own."

Katie stood frozen to the spot. All the adult disappeared? What was she talking about? She knew that something weird was going on, not being able to find anyone in the hotel and having no phone or TV signal. But this was absurd.

"Ok," began Katie slowly, taking a couple of steps to her right so she was directly in front of the table with the bottle on it and grasping the neck tightly, "so you're trying to tell me that all the adults have gone. Gone where? Decided they've had enough of us and left us to it? Have they all been part of an online group, 'we're sick of our kids let's leave them to fend for themselves'? Seriously, tell me who you are or I'll bash your faces in."

She raised the bottle in front of her and all 3 of the intruders flinched. The boy introduced as Quinn took several steps backwards so he was standing in the hallway again.

"Hey, hey," said the boy called Sam. He held his hands up in front of him in a gesture of surrender, "we don't know what's going on either but we're trying to figure it out, and in the meantime, we're all trying to stick together. Fighting each other isn't going to solve anything."

There was something in his eyes Katie couldn't quite figure out. Malice? No. Desperation? Maybe. Fear? Yes. There was a definite quality of fear in his blue eyes as they stared into Katie's own. Katie gazed back at him for a few seconds before slowly lowering her weapon.

"Just tell me what's going on," she said, her helplessness obvious in her tone now, "my family left this morning for the beach and since then I haven't been able to find anyone."

"The same thing happened to us," said Sam, his expression softening into a smile as he slowly paced toward Katie, "in class this morning, the teacher just disappeared. And our parents. And there's no cell service or TV or anything."

Katie's insides clenched with fear. He couldn't be telling the truth, it was impossible. Yet somehow, she knew that he was, and it flooded her with an icy terror, such that she had never felt before. She turned and placed the bottle back on the table behind her, to a sigh of relief from Quinn in the hallway. She noted to herself that he wasn't one to rely on.

"Ok," said Katie, walking toward the 3 newcomers, "what do we do?"


	2. Chapter 2

_So, as you can probably tell, I'm writing my character Katie into the story. The first few chapters will have a lot of similarities to the book, but as she changes allegiance the story will diverge and the content will be original. It will weave back in and out with the protagonists story, but will mostly be from her point of view. _

**Chapter 2**

Katie awoke the next morning alone in the double bed. She'd gone to sleep, quite reluctantly, with Astrid next to her. She liked her own space when she slept, but she couldn't exactly insist that Astrid slept on the floor, and she didn't feel like being alone so didn't want to risk them occupying another room for the night. Quinn had slept on the sofa and Sam on the day bed. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes and glanced over to the window. She could make out 2 shadows on the balcony, a male and a female. sweeping her eyes around the suite, she saw Quinn still lying awkwardly on the too-short sofa and knew who must be outside. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and held her head in her hands. This, the presence of the three people who had broken into her room yesterday, was a confirmation that everything that had happened yesterday was real. She checked her phone; still no signal. With a sigh, she sauntered across the living room to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She was pulling on a fresh t-shirt after her shower when she heard shouts from the bedroom.

"Hey British girl!" came a male voice as she swung open the bathroom door.

"I have a name, dipshit," she said irritably.

"Yeah, ok, sorry um, Kate yeah?" said Quinn distractedly, not looking at her but over his shoulder toward the door of the suite which now hung open. "We gotta go, we heard something."

He turned without waiting for a reply and ran out of the room.

Rolling her eyes, Katie found a pair of sneakers under the bed, pulled them on and sprinted after them. She stepped out of the lift in the hotel reception in time to see Quinn running toward the back of the hotel where the tennis courts and the swimming pool were. She walked quickly but did not run. By the time she had caught up with them, Sam was already deep in conversation with a Hispanic looking boy who was sitting in the driver's seat of a small backhoe which was up against the translucent barrier that split the tennis courts. She stopped a few feet back from them as they attempted to dig down, presumably past the barrier, but to no avail. The two returned to the group and began talking again. Katie edged toward them warily and began to catch what they were saying.

"Over, under, around, or through," the Hispanic kid said. "There's got to be a way." "Kind of like when your folks came over the border from Mexico, huh?" Quinn said.

Sam and Astrid aimed shocked looks at Quinn, but Katie couldn't suppress a giggle.

"Sorry," she said, closing the gap between them with a final stride, "that was kind of funny." She caught Quinn's eye and she thought she saw him grin before he looked down, cheeks flushed.

"Yeah hilarious," said the boy, "you don't seem like you're from around here yourself."

"That's very true," said Katie, folding her arms and smirking, "I did show my passport at the border and pay to stay in this beautiful hotel though."

"Your parents paid," muttered the kid.

"Anyway," cut in Sam, sensing the hostility, "Edilio, this is Katie, she was staying here with her family when the pool happened. Katie, this is Edilio, he just joined our school."

"Pleasure," said Katie, trying to sound civil.

"Likewise," said Edilio, seeming pleasant enough but his expression was not completely convincing.

"We have to go," said Sam. "We're looking for Astrid's brother, she thinks he might be at the power plant," he explained to Edilio.

"But it's about 10 miles away," said Astrid.

There was a short silence before Katie said, "well we'd better get going then. Edilio, you coming with us?"

He looked at her, surprised, but then shrugged.

"How are you going to travel?" he asked.

"If we can find a car," began Katie, but was quickly cut off by Sam.

"I don't think we should try to drive a car," he said, looking nervous.

"Why not, I've driven before," said Katie, "not on, like, a real road but it's not like there's gonna be any other cars out."

Sam, Astrid and Quinn all exchanged concerned looks.

"Look if you want to walk 10 miles that fine by me," said Katie.

"I just don't know how safe it would be to drive right now," said Astrid unconvincingly.

"I get it, you don't trust me," said Katie, raising both hands in mock surrender, "you got a better idea?"

"I think I do," said Edilio.

He led them to a small garage where 2 golf carts were parked.

"They won't be that fast," he shrugged, "but it's better than walking."

"We should just take one," Sam said, "in case something happens to it."

"You mean in case it gets stolen," corrected Astrid.

"It's a possibility," said Sam, "kids are doing what they want right now, and we could need the other one."

So, they loaded into a cart, Edilio taking the wheel. It was painfully slow, but soon they were on the highway trundling towards the power plant.

"Hey what's that?" asked Quinn. There was a gas station ahead of them which was buzzing with activity.

"I'm hungry," Quinn said, pleadingly, "we could stop and"

"No," Sam cut him off, "we keep going. We don't know who that is, they could cause us trouble."

Katie stole a glance at Quinn. He had a sullen expression on his face and she could sense a mounting distaste from him toward his friend. She was considering reaching out and touching his arm soothingly, like her mother always did for her when she was angry, when a shout sounded.

"Hey! Stop!"

A small, skinny African-American kid was running from the entrance of the gas station after their cart, but after a firm look from Sam, Edilio did not slow down. Katie smirked to herself. The kid looked pretty pathetic chasing them. But then a much larger, seemingly older boy emerged and started yelling.

"Hey we said stop!" he yelled in a slow, stupid voice.

"Sorry Orc," called Sam, "we're going to find Astrid's brother, no can do!"

Suddenly, a third kid stepped in front of the cart and Edilio slowed.

"No, keep going!" shouted Sam.

At the last minute, the boy flung himself from in front of the cart. They were pulling away from the larger kid, Orc, but slowly. The weedy kid was jogging close behind them.

"What are you gonna do if you catch us, Howard?" asked Sam, "you're like a dog chasing a truck."

Howard slowed, but his expression changed to one of cunning, as though he'd had an idea. They began to pull away from the group.

Five minutes later, Astrid turned in her seat at the sound of an engine.

"There's a truck coming up fast, we need to pull over," she said, trying to sound calm but the fear obvious in her tone.

"They're not gonna run us down," said Sam, "even Orc's not that crazy."

"Maybe, maybe not," said Astrid, "but that's a 14-year-old driving a Hummer, you really want to be on the road?"

Everyone exchanged glances, accepting defeat.

"We're in for a pounding," said Quinn.

"Should have let me drive," said Katie, leaning back in her seat and preparing herself for what was coming to meet them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It didn't take long for the Hummer to catch them. And then the fight began. Bats were swung, punches thrown. There were yells and screams until finally,

"Ok, ENOUGH!" Katie yelled. She had grabbed a discarded metal bat from the ground and was walking towards the tussle with it slung over her shoulder.

"We get it, alright," she continued, stepping in front of Orc and shielding Edilio, "you're really big and strong, and that makes you better than the rest of these weedy goons. Great. But to be honest, this isn't exactly how I planned on spending my vacation."

She took a deep breath, "SO, if you can't get it together and try to control your testosterone, you can fight me."

She adopted a batter's stance, bat over her shoulder, her face menacing.

"I'm not afraid of no girl," said Orc, but he sounded uneasy and she knew that he didn't like the idea of beating up a girl without reason.

"I'm sure you're not," Katie said, swinging the bat down so that she could rest her weight on it, "but I don't think you'd get much respect for hitting me."

Orc's shoulders sagged a little, and his stance became placid.

"I don't know you," said Orc, his expression a little confused now.

"No, you don't," agreed Katie, "I'm Katie." She held out her hand for him to shake. He eyed it warily before taking it.

"People call me Orc," he said. His grip was extremely strong, and Katie felt a sudden wave of relief that he had decided against beating her up, realising that she had been incredibly stupid in challenging him. She didn't know him, for all she knew he was a psychopath who didn't differentiate between boys, girls, animals.

"Ok, well glad to meet you Orc," she continued, "we're looking for Astrid's little brother, he could be in danger, so if you'd let us get on our way"

"The retard?" Orc asked, cutting her off.

Katie stole a glance towards Astrid, who was looking defiant.

"He's autistic," she snapped.

"You gotta give us something," said Howard, "and if you're looking for something, well, it's best if you go slow." his mouth curled into a smirk.

"So you want the cart," said Sam, calmly.

"Like paying taxes," said Howard lightly, "if you want to keep looking, give us the cart. If not.."

"Yeah, have it," said Quinn quickly. He had not said anything since the fight broke out. He had bruises blossoming on his upper arm.

Sam glared at Howard, clearly showing his disagreement in Quinn's compliance.

"Don't waste your time trying to look all bad at me. See, I know you, man," Howard said. "School Bus Sam. Mr Fireman. You go all heroic, but then you disappear. Don't you? It kind of comes and goes with you. Everyone last night is all, 'Where's Sam? Where's Sam?' And I had to say, 'Well, kids, Sam is off with Astrid the Genius because Sam can't be hanging out with regular people like us. Sam has to go off with his hot blond girlfriend.'"

"She's not my girlfriend," Sam said, looking like he instantly regretted taking the bait.

"See, Sammy," said Howard, smirking, "Captain Orc here runs the FAYZ."

"The what?" asked Astrid.

"The FAYZ," said Howard, grinning even more widely, "The FAYZ, spelt F-A-Y-Z, stands for Fallout Alley Youth Zone. Came up with it myself. Anyway, so you can go and find the Pe-tard, and when you come back you'd better have a nice present for Captain Orc."

"Don't worry Astrid," he added, clocking her angry expression, "it's just a FAYZ. Get it? It's just a FAYZ."

They began to move off on foot to the sounds of jeering and laughter.

"They seem nice," said Katie lightly, moving to walk next to Quinn, "hey are you alright?"

"Fine," he said, but his hand moved to his arm. She beat him to it and he winced at her light touch. She traced the forming bruise gently with her fingertips.

"Pretty good place to get hit though," she mused, "show off the battle wounds with no internal organ damage."

He managed a grin, "yeah I guess," he said. "That was pretty cool, what you did back there. You're braver than me."

"There's a fine line between brave and stupid."

The words might have come out of her own mouth, she had been thinking them since the fight. But it was Astrid who muttered them under her breath.

"Excuse me?" said Katie, stopping in her tracks and giving Astrid the darkest look she could, "do you wish they'd beaten these guys to a pulp?"

"No," said Astrid, stopping a few feet in front of her and swinging round to face her, "I'm just saying that it wasn't the smartest thing to do. You don't know those guys and kids are going crazy. He could have killed you."

"Ok, you're welcome," said Katie exasperatedly, starting to walk again and passing Astrid who still stood rooted to the spot, "I didn't see you doing anything to help, and whatever might have happened, well, it didn't. We're all fine and the only thing we lost is the golf cart. Not afraid of a little walk are you?"

Astrid didn't answer but stepped in to walk with Sam who was deliberately avoiding looking at either of them.

"She's just worried about her brother, I think," came Edilio's voice from her right, "I think it was brave, you could have saved my life, amiga, so I thank you." He held out his right hand and she shook it, a smile creeping across her face.

"I'm sorry about earlier, laughing and all," she said quietly.

Edilio waved his hand, "all forgotten, my friend, someone stands up for me like that I can't hold a grudge."

They turned around at the sound of Quinn's raised voice.

"Yeah, great plan brah," he was saying, "and now we have to walk for miles to find some little kid."

"Brother, no one is making you come," said Sam in a tone of forced calm.

"You saying I shouldn't?" snapped Quinn. He grabbed Sam's shoulder, "you think I should leave?"

Katie turned away and started walking faster. She'd just stopped one testosterone-fuelled fight and wasn't ready to get involved in another one. Edilio kept pace beside her, apparently not wanted to be a part of the argument either.

"Fallout Alley?" asked Katie, glancing at Edilio, "anything I should be concerned about?"

Edilio shrugged, "I don't know, I mean I only just moved here. But apparently a meteor hit the power plant years ago, and there was all this fallout. But it was cleaned up."

"Great vacation spot," said Katie sarcastically.

"Actually I was going to ask you," said Edilio, grinning, "why here?"

"We've got family nearby," Katie shrugged, "that's where I was meant to go today, up north to some beach to see them."

"Picked a bad day to stay behind, huh?" noted Edilio in a low tone.

"You could say that," said Katie, staring determinately straight ahead. "You wishing you'd chosen some other place to call home?"

"This is no worse than Honduras," said Edilio, "at least there's food here."

"For now," said Katie darkly, "that barrier, it's like a ball, yeah? Like we're inside a giant EPCOT centre."

"It could be," said Astrid from close behind her. Katie jumped. She hadn't realised Astrid had been listening.

"Could be?" asked Katie, not looking at her.

"Yeah," said Astrid, falling in to step at her left, "I've been looking at it, and I mean I can see clouds and the sun and all that, and it seems to curve like a ball would. It could just be a dome, but we don't know."

"I think if there was a way out we would be out by now," said Katie, "the amount of technology they have out there, they would have flown over or dug under by now. It must be a sealed unit."

Astrid smiled, "it's kind of nice talking to someone else who favours logic."

"I don't think logic works in the same way anymore," said Katie, giving her a small smile back, "I think a lot has changed in the past few hours."

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Hey guys!" called Quinn from behind them. They turned to face him. He had was walking towards a car at the side of the road. It was a pick-up truck, and it had ploughed into a Prius which was looking a little worse for wear. The truck, however, looked relatively untouched. The engine was still running and Quinn climbed up to look at the dash.

"It's not got much gas left, but I think it could get us there," he said excitedly, "I'm ready to let Katie give this a try."

Katie felt suddenly nervous. She had driven, sure. She had driven her mother's Mercedes around parking lots, on their private land and once, 2 miles home from a pub they had been asked to leave having had a couple of drinks. But this was a huge truck, the driver's seat would be on the other side and she didn't have her mother, however drunk, in the passenger seat to help her if she got stuck.

"I've never driven anything like that before," she began.

"The rest of us have never driven at all," Quinn called, climbing down from the driver's seat, "it's automatic not stick."

That relieved her a little. Automatic should be easy, right? Like a go-kart. If she could drive a manual Mercedes sports car, through the back streets at midnight whilst a little tipsy, she could surely manage this.

"Ok, let me look," she said, striding towards the truck.

She managed to reverse it away from the smoking Prius whilst the others watched from a distance that was a little insulting in her eyes and drove a few feet up the road. It wasn't as powerful as her mom's car and it took a lot longer to stop. The steering wheel was also extremely stiff. But she thought she could do it.

"Alright," she called out of the window, "get in."


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you to Platinum Puppy for the review, I really appreciate it. All feedback in welcome, and if you have ideas for story progression you would like to see feel free to review or send me a message! _

**Chapter 4**

Katie drove slowly, albeit faster than she usually did due to the lack of other vehicles. They arrived at the power plant after 15 minutes and were faced with a huge gate.

"How do we get in?" asked Quinn.

"We climb the gate," said Sam simply. He shot a quick glance at Katie and Astrid before saying "I'll do it."

Kate thought there was something defiant in his tone, as is he felt that he needed to prove himself after their run-in with the bullies. He climbed to the top of the gate, pulled off his t-shirt and wrapped it around the barbed wire at the top. Katie couldn't help admiring his tanned, toned torso and a smirk played across her lips. As he climbed over, he let out a yell which indicated the clothing had not completely protected him from the barbs. He dropped down to the other side, leaving his shirt behind, and disappeared into the guardhouse. After what seemed like an age, the gate opened and Sam emerged wearing a comically oversized military shirt.

"What took you so long?" asked Quinn suspiciously.

"I was looking for a shirt," said Sam, indicating the one he had found.

They walked through the gate towards the main power plant. As they passed the guardhouse, Katie spotted the closet Sam had acquired his new clothing from with the door ajar. Inside, she was sure she recognised the distinct shape of a handgun hooked onto the wall. The others hadn't noticed her fall back, deep in discussion about the radioactive fallout incident. She slipped into the guardhouse and pulled the closet door open. There was indeed a pistol, one of many, along with automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Her mind raced and her heart beat fast as she lifted the smallest weapon, a revolver, from the wall. She checked the chambers – it was fully loaded. She switched the safety off and then on again, before tucking it into the back of the waistband of her shorts and allowing her shirt to drape over it, hopefully disguising the bulge enough that no one would question it. On her way out, she grabbed a packet of gum from the desk and popped one in her mouth on the way out. She jogged to catch up with the group who had now noticed her absence.

"Hey what were you doing in there?" asked Sam. His eyes were narrowed and she had the awful feeling he knew exactly what she had done. She shrugged and held up the gum packet.

"Saw this and wanted a stick," she said as casually as she could manage, "gum anyone?"

Quinn, Edilio and Astrid seemed satisfied by this explanation and happily accepted the silver sticks she handed them. Sam looked her in the eye for a long time before taking his piece. He must have seen the guns if he had found that shirt, but she didn't think he had the guts to confront her about it in front of the others, especially since she presumed he had actually spent such a long time opening the gate because he had been admiring the firearms himself. Calling her out would mean calling himself out at the same time.

Katie grinned widely and winked at him before stuffing the half-empty packet into her pocket and striding after the others.

Astrid led the way, acting as though she has been here numerous times. It didn't take long to find her brother. He was in the control room on the floor playing with a handheld videogame, rocking back and forth. Astrid walked to him and hugged him, but the boy barely seemed to notice. He continued playing his game, his blue eyes glued to the screen.

"Petey are you hungry?" she asked. He didn't respond. She took his face gently in her hands and turned it towards her, blocking out everything but her own face.

"Petey, hungry?" she asked patiently, "munchy munchy?"

She turned to the group, "he has trigger phrases that he responds to, he doesn't communicate like you and me."

She turned back to Little Pete, "Pete, munchy munchy?"

His eyes flickered and he slowly nodded. Astrid looked a little relieved that she had got a response from him, however small.

"Alright, let's get some food," she said.

"What does he like?" asked Sam.

"Well he never says no to chocolate," began Astrid.

"I'll get him something," said Sam, turning to leave the control room.

"Everything looks good," said Edilio, eyeing the consoles.

"What you're a nuclear engineer as well as a golf cart driver?" Quinn scoffed.

Edilio shot him an annoyed look, "I can't read this stuff, but I figure green is good, right?"

Katie strolled towards one of the consoles which appeared to be a map. In the centre, where she presumed the power plant was situated, there was a red circle like a bullseye and larger around it was a pink circle.

"It shows the fallout pattern if there was an incident," explained Astrid, coming to stand beside her, "it's not getting any weather data to it's just defaulted. This pink circle is a 100-mile radius and the red here is 10 miles." She indicated each as she spoke.

Katie gazed at the map, something in the back of her mind sparking to life as she examined it.

"10 miles," she mused, "you said it was 10 miles from the hotel. So somewhere along this red circle line is"

"Clifftop, yes," said Astrid. She a look of comprehension was dawning across her face.

"Right where that barrier is, right?" asked Katie, "and we said it curved, if not like a ball then at least a dome. And if you looked at it from above.."

She went silent and caught Astrid's eye, knowing that they both understood now.

"Has there been some kind of radiation leak?" Astrid mused, more to herself, Katie felt, than to anyone else, "but then there'd be radiation alarms going off all over the place. But what's weird is, it's like cause and effect, only backwards. The FAYZ is what cut off the weather data, which caused the computer to default. FAYZ first, then the map goes to default. So why would the FAYZ barrier be following a map whose lines it caused?"

"Astrid, you're trying to rationalise this," said Katie, slowly shaking her head back and forth, "nothing about what's happening is rational."

She looked back over at Astrid who was staring at the map with a terrified expression. As she watched Astrid turned to look at her brother, still sitting on the floor playing his game.

In that moment, Katie realised. Astrid knew something that she wasn't willing to share with the rest of them, and it involved Little Pete. She caught Quinn and Edilio looking confused, as though they had not followed what they had said, but now looking interestedly from Astrid to Pete and back again. Katie didn't like Astrid very much; she found her arrogant and proud. But she knew what it was like to want to keep a secret for someone you love.

"Ok then," she said, a little too loudly and making Quinn jump, "let's see if we can find some food. I'm starving."

Quinn's expression relaxed into a smile, "that's the best idea I've heard all day."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

They'd decided to spend the night at the power plant. The truck was almost out of gas and they didn't like the idea of breaking down halfway between here and Perdido Beach, so the 5 of them plus Little Pete were lying uncomfortably in makeshift beds in the control room – Astrid had wanted them all to stay together. Katie was grateful that they were all together, but as she caressed the revolver now stashed under the cushion she was using as a pillow, she wished she could be alone if only for a few minutes. Just as she was dropping off back to sleep, there came a huge crash. She sat bolt upright, her hand closing around the grip of the gun and pulling it to her side.

"Sorry," said Sam from the other side of the room. He had crashed into a cabinet of some kind, and the sound of the crash was still ringing through the room. And then Little Pete began to scream. It was an ear-splitting, terrible sound, and now Sam looked as if he were choking. Stuffing the gun none to carefully into her waistband, she hurried over to him.

"What's wrong with him?" said Quinn, rushing to her side.

"I don't know, I think he's choking!" exclaimed Katie. She didn't know what to do; the source of his choking wasn't apparent.

"Can't you shut that kid up?" Quinn yelled.

"He won't stop until you're all calm," said Astrid, "window seat, Petey, go to your window seat."

There was a flash of bright light and Sam fell unconscious. Katie supported him to the ground, and he came around not ten seconds later.

"What the fuck was that," asked Katie, backing away from the rasping boy. It looked to her like the light had come from his hands, which was impossible but still terrified her. She was suddenly very aware that she was in an unfamiliar place with a bunch of strangers whom she had decided to trust for no apparent reason. She was scared.

"Where did that light come from?" asked Edilio, not daring to step any closer to Sam, "did you see that?"

"Dude, they saw that on the moon," said Quinn.

"Does that mean someone's coming to rescue us?" asked Katie sarcastically, backing away now, her hand automatically flying to the gun tucked away in her shorts.

"We are out of this place," said Edilio, shaking his head.

"Where-," Astrid began.

"I don't care, just out of this place," said Edilio.

"You got that right," said Quinn, reaching down to pull Sam to his feet.

They left the building at a run, Katie trailing behind. Who were these people? They were hiding something, not just from her but from each other, and that made her wary.

Once they were outside, Quinn started.

"Ok, what the hell was that, what the HELL was that?"

"Petey just panicked," Astrid said.

"Yeah, I get that part," Quinn said. "What about that light that went off?"

"I don't know," Sam managed to rasp.

"What were you choking on, brah?"

"I was just choking," Sam said.

"Just choking? Just choking on air?" "I don't know, maybe . . . maybe I was sleepwalking or something and grabbed something to eat and choked on it."

It was weak, and Quinn's disbelieving look, mirrored by Edilio, said they weren't buying it.

"That's probably it," Astrid said. It was so unexpected, even Sam couldn't hide a look of surprise. "What else could have caused him to choke?" Astrid asked. "And the light must have been some internal alarm system going off."

"Sorry Astrid, no offence but no way," said Edilio, shaking his head. He squared up to Sam.

"You gotta start telling me the truth, man," he said, "how am I supposed to trust you if you lie to me?"

"What are you talking about?" said Sam, not meeting his gaze.

"Come on," said Edilio, his expression stern, "I saw that same light before I pulled you out of that burning building. Something's going on with you, and Astrid too since she was pretty quick to cover for you just now."

Astrid looked sheepish and nervous, avoiding catching anyone's eye.

Katie looked from one to the other. Whatever was going on, it was dangerous. That light looked like it could have burned someone alive, and Sam choking on nothing? That wasn't normal. She wanted to know what was going on.

"Ok all of you," she said loudly. They turned to face her. No one had looked at her since they had left the power plant and were shocked to see her standing with the revolver held next to her right shoulder, pointed at the sky.

"Woah, woah," said Sam, backing away and holding his hands out in front of him.

She turned the gun on him immediately.

"Get your hands behind your back!" she yelled, both hands clutching the revolver now. The safety was on and it wasn't cocked, but they were 14-year-old kids, and to them, a gun was a gun.

"Ok!" shouted Sam and thrust his hands behind him.

"I'm sorry," she said shakily, lowering the gun, "I just saw what those hands can do and I don't want to be in the firing line."

They all eyed her with terrified expressions.

"I don't want to hurt you," she said calmly, "any of you. But something really fucking weird just happened, and I don't know who any of you are. Now you're lying to each other. You can keep lying to each other, that's fine I don't care, but if you don't start explaining some of this to me then I'm out of here. I'm taking the truck and getting as far away from you as I can."

"Where did you get a gun?" asked Edilio timidly, "have you had that since Clifftop?"

"She grabbed it from the guardhouse on the way in," said Sam accusingly, looking talking to Edilio but looking Katie straight in the face, "then pretended she went in for gum."

"I'm not the one with fire shooting out of my hands," said Katie, "and after seeing that, I'm pretty glad I armed myself. Now start talking or I'm leaving."

Sam took a deep breath.

"Look, I don't know what it is ok," he said pleadingly, "I can just…"

He brought his hands out from behind his back warily. When Katie didn't raise the revolver again, he turned them over and examined them, shaking his head.

"You can just what?" asked Quinn, his tone hard.

"It's like…. brah it's like I can shoot light from my hands sometimes," Sam almost asked, "I know it sounds crazy."

Quinn barked a laugh. "No, man, that doesn't sound crazy. Crazy is you saying you're better than me at riding a curl. This is mentally ill. This is off the hook. Let me see you do it."

"You already saw him do it," said Katie, "just now, in there."

"I can't do it all the time," said Sam looking confused, "it just happens, when I'm angry or upset. It's happened 4 times."

"When were the other two then?" asked Edilio, his expression still stern and accusing.

"What?" asked Sam.

"The other two," Edilio pressed, "just now, and when I pulled you out of the building, when else?"

"There was one time, at home. I was alone and it was dark, I just wanted some light. And this ball of light like a light bulb just, like, appeared."

He had caught Astrid's eye. "You saw it," he accused her.

"Yes," she said, "I've known since then, and I've known about Petey for longer."

Edilio acted as though she hadn't spoken, "ok so here, the fire, the lightbulb and when?"

"Tom," said Sam simply.

"Your stepfather?" asked Quinn, "sorry, ex-stepfather."

"Yeah," said Sam solemnly, "I heard him and my mom fighting one night and I came downstairs. I saw him holding a knife. I thought he was going to hurt her. And it just happened. My mom told a lie about him falling against the stove, he was screaming that I'd shot him, but the doctors saw a burn so they knew it wasn't a gunshot. He knew when the pain was under control that he'd be put into a psych ward if he kept raving about his stepson shooting lasers out of his hands."

"You burned your stepfather's hand off?" exclaimed Quinn.

"Woah back up, did what?" demanded Edilio, looking shocked.

"Yeah, man," said Quinn, "his stepfather had like a hook for a hand now. Saw him in San Luis a couple weeks back paying for cigarettes and handing over the money with his hook, one with two pincers." He mimed with his fingers.

Katie suppressed a laugh without much success.

"Sorry," she said, "really not funny."

"So you're some kind of freak," said Quinn, rounding on Sam.

"I'm not the only one," he said defensively, "in that fire, the little girl, she started it. She was shooting liquid fire from her hands."

"Window seat," said Little Pete suddenly.

"He talks," said Katie.

"He can, but he doesn't much," explained Astrid.

"Well, what else can he do?" asked Edilio. He seemed determined to get as much information as he could.

"A lot of things, it seems like," said Astrid with a sigh, "usually he's fine. But one time I was working with him on his therapy. This picture book, I put his finger on the picture and get him to say the word." She mimed doing it.

"I guess I was in a bad mood, I was too rough with him or something because one minute I was in his room working with him and the next I was back in my room."

Everyone stood in shocked silence.

"I keep waiting for you to tell me it's a joke," said Quinn, shaking his head, "like hey, gotcha, like you've been goofing me."

"I don't think anyone's goofing, Quinn," said Katie, walking towards where they had left the truck.

"We have to keep this quiet," said Edilio, following her, "about everything; Sam, Little Pete, that girl. It will just cause panic if we start telling people."

"You got that right," said Katie, climbing into the driver's seat of the truck, "but how long are we going to be able to keep it quiet? I doubt you're the only three people this sort of thing has happened to."

The others clambered into the truck, squashed but not wanting to ride in the back in the dark.

Katie pulled away slowly but smoothly onto the highway, back towards Perdido Beach.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The truck didn't get them very far. After about five minutes, the engine spluttered and the car drew to a halt in the middle of the highway. It was eerie, being in a broken-down car in the middle of a highway littered with cars in various states of wreckage, the things visible the light from the distant town, a few dim street lamps and the 10 feet of road illuminated by the truck's old headlamps. Beyond that, the night was heavy with darkness.

"Well, I guess we'd better start walking," said Sam with a sigh.

"Wait," said Quinn, his voice shaky, "why don't we just wait here until morning?"

Sam shook his head, "no, we'll be sitting ducks out here, we need to get moving."

"Not scared, are you?" asked Edilio with a hint of a smile.

"No," snapped Quinn, opening the door and exiting the truck, "just thinking about the kid."

He gestured toward Little Pete as he spoke, who was now climbing down from the truck with some help from Astrid, his eyes never leaving his game. Edilio looked at Quinn like he wanted to say something else, but turned and started to walk down the highway towards the cluster of lights that was Perdido Beach.

They spoke very little as they walked. By the time they reached the town, it was getting light. They walked through side streets pasts dozens of empty houses, some vandalised until they reached a large square of grass. A few kids were sitting here and there, some on the fountain that stood in the middle; the water wasn't running. Surrounding Katie now were a hardware store and a day-care next to a burned building that looked like it had once been an apartment block, a town hall and a church. Around her, the others fell to the grass looking exhausted. She realised that she should have felt the same way, but she couldn't even think of sleeping now. She had spent the last sixteen hours in the worst situation of her life, with no one she knew, kids fighting each other and no adults around to stop it. And now she had pretty much held a boy at gunpoint. She could feel the revolver pressed against her back, held in by her waistband, and she knew she needed to find somewhere to be alone. She needed to find somewhere to live, she realised, as she didn't want to go back up to the resort on her own. As strange and secretive the people of this town were, they were the only people she had, and they had taken her on when they found her.

Half an hour later wandering through a derelict street, Katie found a house with the door left ajar. She warily stepped inside and walked into a surprisingly large open plan living room and kitchen. Broken eggshells littered the counter and a flour packet stood open. A burned bottom frying pan was atop the stove and a high chair sat to the side of the island. An image formed in her mind of a happy mother smiling as she prepared pancakes for her baby while he laughed in his high chair. She imagined his beaming face turning sad when his mother had vanished, and he was left alone. What had happened to the child? Had whoever turned the stove off found him and rescued him? Had he escaped the house alone, leaving the door ajar as he did so? Trying not to consider the possibilities, she pulled the gun from her shorts and held it in her hand, only now appreciating the full weight of it. She hated what she'd done to Sam, she couldn't believe she'd pointed a gun at a scared kid for doing something out of his control. But what was worse was the rush she had felt, the feeling of power that had been present ever since lifting the revolver form the wall of the guardhouse. No, she could not allow herself to succumb to it, she was a good person. Most of the time.

The search of the first floor for any kids who might have moved came up empty. She had never really expected to find anyone, the house showed no signs of anyone living thereafter its original occupants vanished, but she kept the gun gripped tightly in her hand the whole time. The master bedroom was littered with clothes, mostly a woman's, and she suddenly felt uncomfortable with the intimacy of this whole ordeal. How could she live in someone else's house? Wouldn't she find it strange if someone were living in her bedroom, regardless of whether she was there or not? But she needed somewhere to sleep and most of all she needed a hiding place for the gun, The second drawer of the dresser contained lingerie, some basic for everyday use but a lot was silk and lace, and she couldn't help admiring some of the more adventurous pieces. She lifted a black satin teddy and wrapped it carefully around the gun before burying it beneath a heap of garments. Then she flopped down on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

What seemed like seconds later, Katie woke up. It was bright outside now and the sun was glaring through the window. She grumbled irritably and wandered into the bathroom wishing she'd had the sense to close the curtains, but now looking forward to the feeling of hot water washing away the night's events. She dressed quickly in a pair of the woman's skinny jeans and a blouse; not her style but almost her size. She picked up a belt that was strewn across the floor, threw it on and left the room, sparing a glance at the dresser and her one weapon before she left.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Hey, where did you go?" asked Edilio as she strode casually across the grass. There were a lot more kids in the plaza now, she supposed this is where they went to stick together and feel a little safer.

"Finding a bed to sleep in," she shrugged. The atmosphere was strange. Kids were muttering under their breath and shooting worried looks at the church. Looking around, Katie noticed a line of expensive-looking black cars lined up on the street by the plaza. For a moment her heart left and she thought that someone must have come to rescue them, but then where were they? There would have been mass hysteria if someone had come for them, kids would have been running, screaming, celebrating, but there was nothing. This had to be something else.

"So you noticed we have company, huh?" said Edilio smirking, turning to face the church.

"In there?" she observed, gesturing towards the building, "who?"

"Some kids from Coates," he said, then spotting her confused expression added, "Coates Academy, it's the private school a few miles from here."

"What do they want?" asked Katie, an anxious knot forming in the pit of her stomach and immediately regretted leaving the gun behind.

"To plan for the future," said Edilio, his voice thick with sarcasm, "that's what their leader said anyway."

"Leader?" scoffed Katie, "since when do we have leaders?"

Edilio shook his head, "it's different up there, the kids, they're sent there when they… when they're… when no one else will take them," he finally concluded.

Katie nodded, "troublemakers?" she inquired.

"Something like that," agreed Edilio, "me, I don't trust people like that. Too much money, not enough conscience."

"You think they're bad news," said Katie. It wasn't a question.

Edilio didn't respond and she knew she'd got it right. All of a sudden there came a huge crash and a blood-curdling scream from the church. Everyone in the plaza went silent and turned to the source of the disturbance. After a few seconds, two people Katie recognised hurried from the church, Astrid leading Little Pete by the hand. She looked scared, not an expression that Katie had seen on her face much, except fleetingly back at the power plant. A few seconds later, a tall, dark-haired, extremely handsome boy sauntered from the church; this must be the leader Edilio was talking about and Katie could feel his arrogance from across the square. Behind him walked a beautiful girl with huge eyes and long dark hair. There was a smirk on her face as she observed everyone she walked past with an air of extreme superiority.

"Leader and first lady," Katie muttered under her breath.

"What?" asked Edilio.

Katie was about to tell him that it was nothing when another figure emerged from the church. He walked far differently than the dark-haired boy, smooth and strong, self-assured but not arrogant. This boy was not putting on a show for anyone, he wasn't looking for the approval of the many. Katie appreciated his lean physique, his shaggy sandy hair, and though he didn't have the angelic beauty of the other boy, Katie noted that he was attractive. Her heart jumped into her throat as he turned and locked his cold, grey eyes with her deep blue ones. She stood still, trying not to let her fear show, as his eyes narrowed and he looked away. It wasn't until he had followed the first two into the town hall that she realised she had been holding her breath and released it in a sigh.

"Scary dude, huh?" asked Edilio.

She nodded absentmindedly, not really listening to him. She was watching the dark-haired girl who was now re-emerging from the town hall and heading directly for Astrid, who was standing outside the church with her brother deep in conversation with s young blonde boy with glasses. Katie raised her eyebrows in surprise as the girl took Astrid's hand in a seemingly kind gesture and Astrid pulled it away quickly. A few words were exchanged, which looked rather unfriendly to Katie, before Astrid spotted Katie and Edilio and made a beeline for them, looking over her shoulder to see the girl leading the young boy back to the town hall.

"New friend?" asked Katie, smirking.

Astrid didn't laugh, she didn't even seem to have heard what Katie had said. Her eyes were fearful and her lip trembled before she spoke.

"They're not here to help," she spat the last word. "That guy, Caine, he wants to be in charge, it's obvious. He's smooth, charming, good looking, and he's using that to manipulate these terrified kids. He's already handing out orders and assigning roles for people."

"Isn't that what we need though?" asked Katie reasonably, "someone to tell people what to do? Prevent chaos?"

Astrid looked at her solemnly and shook her head, "I think he has the power," she said flatly. "Just now, in there. He made something happen."

"What?" asked Katie, "what do you mean _made _something happen?"

"I don't know," said Astrid seriously, "but he was angry, really angry you could see it on his face. And then the crucifix just…"

Her eyes filled with tears and she shook her head, lips pressed together. She seemed unable to complete her story.

"Just what?" asked Edilio, his voice unsteady.

Sam approached them then, his head down and hands in his pockets. As he drew in line with Astrid he looked at her sadly.

"Hey, he's gonna be alright," he said, putting an arm around her shoulder.

"Who?" asked Katie, almost desperately now.

"Cookie," said Sam, looking at her briefly and then at Edilio. She knew he hadn't completely forgiven her for holding a gun on him. "This kid at our school. Caine made the crucifix… I don't know how… he made it fall on him. He's hurt bad."

Sam glanced around them surreptitiously before adding in a whisper, "he's got the power, I know he does, and he's learned how to control it. He's dangerous."

They all looked between each other for a few seconds. Katie was starting to see how very wrong this could go, very quickly. Lord of the Flies, she thought. But add into the equation that kids could do some extraordinary and dangerous things?

"You guys got a store around here?" she asked dully.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The sky was almost completely dark and the plaza was illuminated by street lamps as Katie sat on the grass and leaned against the fountain taking swigs from a bottle of Jack Daniels. It was a quarter gone and her head was starting to spin; just what she had been aiming for. She hadn't eaten in a while and her tolerance was down, but that didn't matter. All she wanted was for the feelings of dread and fear to leave her. She heard a sound to her left and looked up. She instantly recognised the figure strolling towards the town hall, though he was facing away from her. She took another sip, the alcohol numbing her fear but still not particularly wanting to come face to face with this boy alone in the dark. He stopped on the path and stood quite still. He knew she was there, she could feel it. He slowly turned to look at her and his mouth curled into a grin, too many teeth and not enough humour.

"I think," he said, wandering over to where she sat, "that counts as an illegal substance." He gestured to the bottle and then stood rigidly, hands clasped in front of him.

"It was in the store, must be legal," Katie argued with a shrug.

The boy smiled again and squatted down so that he was just above her eye level.

"Ok so I guess you didn't know," he explained, "I'm the sheriff, and I'm here to enforce the rules. And I say you can't be drinking that."

"Don't see your badge," said Katie with a laugh, pointing to his bare t-shirt and accidentally poking him as she did so.

He grabbed her wrist so fast she didn't even have time to react. He squeezed it hard as he moved his face so it was inches from hers.

"Look," he said in a half-whisper, "people who don't do what I say tend to end up in a lot of trouble. They get hurt pretty bad. You want me to mess up your face, fine, that can be arranged. If not, you'd better start listening to me."

Katie didn't know it was because she was drunk or because of the events of the past days, but she couldn't help admiring his features as he crushed her wrist with an incredibly strong grip for someone so young. She thought of how solid his chest had felt when she touched it and how sweet the smell of his breath was, how her heart was racing and not from fear now. She held his gaze and smiled, "ok sheriff, I'm sorry. Here, take it."

She took a huge gulp from the bottle and pressed it into his chest. He took hold of it but did not release her other hand. He was studying her face, his eyes darting between her features, resting on her mouth more than once. And then without warning, he released her and stood up again.

"Drake Merwin," he said, his face unreadable.

She stood up, looked at him said simply, "Catherine Sinclair. Katie."

He looked her up and down, smirking. "No more of this shit, Catherine," he said, flinging the bottle across the plaza. It smashed on the sidewalk, glass and liquor covering the tarmac.

She gave him a mock two-finger salute and turned away, heading for her acquired home, fighting a grin that was trying to spread across her face.

She fumbled for the door key as she approached the house. It was still on a keychain of four keys, plus the car key for the old Ford parked on the front, that she had found on a table behind the front door. She half pulled herself up the stairs and practically fell through the doorway into the master bedroom. She walked to the dresser, all of a sudden feeling completely sober, and extracted the revolver. She flicked off the safety and cocked it, enjoying the distinct creak and click it made. She held it like this for a while before carefully making it safe again and crossing to the bed. She fell into a deep sleep with the gun placed under her pillow.


End file.
